VERSION

ABSTRACT

Copyright and licensing issues are bound to come up repeatedly in the
development of perl6, both in new code that is created, and in code from
other projects that is to be reused. The Licensing and Copyright Working
Group deals with these issues as they come up. Since these issues are
ongoing, the Working Group must live on even after the initial language
design is completed.

DESCRIPTION

The Copyright and Licensing Working Group handles the inevitable copyright
and licensing issues that come up in the development of perl6. These
copyright and licensing issues mostly likely take one of the following two
forms:

Decisions about licensing and copyright of new code developed.

Decisions and consensus building concerning licensing issues of support
libraries or tools developed by other groups.

Copyright and Licensing Issues with New Code

One major task of this working group is consideration of copyright and
licensing decisions of code that is developed by the perl6 developers.

A copyright holder policy must still be developed. Some projects, such as
Linux, use a system of separate copyright holders for different files,
depending on who edits which file. Other projects, such as GCC, use
copyright assignments to a single organization. Still other projects assign
all copyright to a single individual.

All of these systems have their advantages and disadvantages. This working
group is charged with the task of building an RFC that proposes a copyright
holder system that works for perl6. As of yet, no work has been done on
this front, since the focus has been on the license of perl6.

Second, licensing decisions must be made concerning perl6. The Working
Group is considering proposed changes to the Artistic License. RFCs are now
being developed on this issue, and they should be completed by the 1 October
2000 deadline for Larry Wall's perusal.

Licensing Issues with Other Code and Tools

In early design discussions, perl6 developers already started to propose
reusing existing free software to make the job of building perl6 easier.
Such code reuse is a fundamental part of free software development, but can
be complicated by the plethora of different (and possibly incompatible)
licenses used in the community.

This working group is charged with the task of sorting out these issues, so
that the other developers can focus on choosing the right technology. When
reuse of some code or a tool is considered, another working group can defer
licensing concerns to the Copyright and Licensing Working Group. This will
save valuable time and endless "Will this license mess us up?" threads.

IMPLEMENTATION

There are three things that were done to create this working group:

A declaration from the Project Manager that creates this working group.
(This was done shortly after the first version of this RFC).

perl6-licensing@perl.org, which will be the top-level mailing list for this working group. (This was done shortly after the first version of this RFC).'>The creation of a mailing list, perl6-licensing@perl.org, which will be the
top-level mailing list for this working group.
(This was done shortly after the first version of this RFC).

bkuhn@ebb.org> has volunteered for this job. (This was done shortly after the first version of this RFC).'>Appointment of coordinator of the working group. Bradley M. Kuhn
<bkuhn@ebb.org> has volunteered for this job.
(This was done shortly after the first version of this RFC).

However, it should be noted that this Working Group's life should be
extended beyond the first phase of development. The need for licensing
discussion will likely continue throughout development. (For example, we do
not yet know what third-party free software libraries might be used to help
develop perl6).

Therefore, it is requested that this Working Group continue to live at least
through the early stages of coding, if not longer.

OPEN ITEMS

Pending issues for the working group include:

Decisions about copyright holdership of perl6.

Development of final proposals concerning the license of code written by
perl6 developers. (Should be completed for 1 October 2000 deadline.)

Consideration of any issues concerning what other free software code can be
included in the perl6 core without licensing concerns.